http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/ Kathy, Charley and daughter Kelly spend 14 months traveling and living in Europe en Copyright 2012 Thu, 27 Apr 2006 14:03:34 +0100 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Some background information about our trip (a letter to friends) A list of all the entries, by week (start at the bottom and work up) Photo albums from our trip (this is still a work-in-progress) Much to our surprise, over the past two years many other people from all over the world have somehow found their way to this website. Several of them have even taken the time to write us, and we are always glad to answer questions or provide help to others who may be considering a similar trip. You can contact us at woodfamily@ourgrandtour.com. We especially want to recognize the support of Pauline Kenny, the founder of www.slowtrav.com. Pauline set up this website and hosts it on Slow Travel. She has become a good friend. We also want to recognize the support and friendship of so many others in the truly remarkable Slow Travel community, many of whom we met during our trip and since we've been home. We have been so encouraged by the interest in our family's adventure. We hope our story is an inspiration to others to follow their dreams, whatever they may be. ]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000945.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000945.html Travel Musings Thu, 27 Apr 2006 14:03:34 +0100 here. Although bad weather altered our plans in the early part of the week, we finished the 100-mile Alpine Pass Walk in beautiful weather, enjoying the spectacular alpine scenery. We spent the last night of the walk in the small village of Saanen, and then took the Golden Pass scenic train to Lake Geneva for one final night in the international city of Geneva. And then it was home to the USA after 14 months. Saturday, August 6 (Rest day in Kandersteg) Today is a rest day and we like having another day at the Hotel Bernerhof. It’s the third rest day of the trip, but the first one that we haven’t had to do part of the walk. We didn’t set the alarm, but still made it down in time for breakfast. We sat with Al, as usual. We decided to have a very laid-back day—especially Charley, who had such a long, hard day yesterday. I think I made the right decision yesterday, since my knee didn’t really hurt today at all. We saw the German couple in the restaurant at breakfast... they had ended up at this hotel too. It has been fun running into the same people at various places along the route, just as we had on the Coast-to-Coast walk in England last summer. The German couple had checked the weather and heard that bad weather was coming in. They were thinking about ending their walk now and heading back to Germany a day early. We decided not to worry too much about the weather—one of our mottos on this trip is “it is what it is.” We’ll worry about the weather—and potentially an alternate plan—tomorrow morning. We poked around in our room and then went for a walk around Kandersteg. We looked in all the various shops and bought a couple of things. I found a reasonably-priced book on the wildflowers of Switzerland, something I’d been looking for. We had lunch and a couple of big beers at an outdoor restaurant. A big tabby cat joined us, and Kelly fed it some bread. We passed Al—also enjoying lunch on an outdoor terrace, listening to his music and reading a book—when we walked back to the hotel. He was also taking a day off.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000943.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000943.html Switzerland 2005 Fri, 21 Apr 2006 20:55:57 +0100 here. We planned our long trip to include two long distance walks. In July/August 2004 we completed the 190 mile Coast-to-Coast walk across England. During our second summer we planned to do the 100 mile Alpine Pass walk in the Swiss Alps. The Alpine Pass walk became the “grand finale” of our Grand Tour… the very last chapter of this long family adventure. The Alpine Pass route is actually a complete trek across Switzerland, from the east on the border with Liechtenstein to Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva. The entire walk covers about 202 miles and crosses 16 mountain passes. Our walk (our third self-guided walk with Sherpa Walking Holidays) was the central portion of the route: about 100 miles and eight passes through absolutely beautiful countryside. Although we had hiked extensively in England and France, we had never experienced the elevation-gain that was involved in this particular walk. Like our walk across England, this walk in Switzerland was one of the highlights of our trip. Thursday, July 28 (Lucerne to Engelberg) Our train left the Lucerne station this afternoon at 1:41 pm, a one-hour trip to Engelberg where our walk begins tomorrow morning. Charley and Kelly bought some lunch at the station while I stood with the bags. Our fourteen months of luggage is now condensed down to one big rolling duffel bag (that’s not completely full), two standard rolling suitcases, three backpacks, and a rolling computer bag. Kelly and I both have our hiking boots hanging off our luggage. It still seems like we have a lot of stuff. After today we won’t have the computer bag any more. And for the next two weeks we’ll be wearing those hiking boots. We ate our lunch as soon as we got on the train and were probably done before the train even left the station. This train must make the trip between Lucerne and Engelberg several times a day, as there’s a train scheduled every hour and even every half-hour in the morning and late afternoon. Engelberg is the starting point for a couple of mountain-top day-trips from Lucerne, including the ride up to the glaciers at Mount Titlis (10,626 feet). The cable car to Mount Titlis is called the Rotair and somehow rotates so passengers get a 360 degree view while traveling up the mountain. Our train traveled around Lake Lucerne (the Vierwaldstättersee), stopping at several small villages and towns. We passed along the base of Mount Pilatus (6,995 feet). We had done a day-trip to the top of Pilatus in 1997, long before we would have considered ourselves hikers. I mainly remember how rattled Charley was by the steep train ride up to the very top of the mountain. A lot of the passengers on the train today seemed to be hikers. The Swiss train system is considered one of the best in the world, known for being very clean and very punctual. When we arrived in Zurich a few days ago, we bought special train passes that give us a 50% discount on trains, buses and mountain railways while we are in Switzerland. We also have a card for Kelly where she rides for free. We’ve almost paid for our tickets in our ticket savings just the last couple of days. It had seemed like we were in a normal train, but about 15 minutes before we reached Engelberg, the train attached to some kind of rack and began to ascend the mountain on a very steep track, moving much more slowly. Engelberg is at 3287 feet, so we’re glad that the train got us up this high before we start our long hike. Tomorrow we will climb further up in the mountains beyond Engelberg. Engelberg is a town of about 3500 people, a center for winter and summer mountain activities. The village is also famous for a large Benedictine monastery founded in 1120 Our hotel tonight is the Hotel Banklialp, which sits on a slope on the outskirts of Engelberg—right on the path where we begin our walk in the morning. The manager of the hotel met us at the station. (We had asked Maria to call for us and set this up.) He spoke very good English and was very friendly. It was nice to get the ride instead of having to walk with our luggage—especially since the hotel is up a hill. We like this hotel a lot… a good place for a relaxing afternoon and hopefully a good night’s sleep before we begin our walk. We have a big room with a separate area for Kelly. We were al happy to have our own personal toilet again! The hotel is modern, but has a very traditional décor. Best of all, we have a little balcony with a table and three chairs that overlooks the village with mountains seemingly all around us. I can peer over the edge of the balcony, and there’s our path for tomorrow… heading up the mountain behind us. We enjoyed the beautiful view and a couple of hours on the balcony. Kelly and I used the time to study the maps and our Alpine Pass guidebook. She has asked to carry the map and guidebook each day and be our navigator on this walk. Although I like doing this too, I’m happy to turn over this job. Our little girl is growing up! Our dinner is included in our package on nine of the fourteen nights of this walking tour. We had a similar arrangement on our walking tour in Alsace, France a few years ago. When the dinner is included, normally there is a set meal (kind of a daily special with several courses) that we found was quite good. This forced us to eat some unfamiliar food (good food!) that we probably wouldn’t have ordered. Tonight the meal was included. Charley and I both enjoyed our dinner, but it wasn’t really to Kelly’s liking. We had a big salad with vinaigrette dressing; a noodle soup (clear broth with very fine noodles); a main dish of cold beef with a dressing, boiled potatoes and more salad; and a good dessert with vanilla and strawberry ice cream and meringue. (Meringue was invented in the Swiss town of Meiringen where we will stay in two nights.) Kelly really only liked the noodle soup. We both gave her part of our soup and ended up ordering her a plate of French fries, which were really good. We also asked if she could have just plain ice cream without the meringue. In the future we will plan to ask about a children’s menu. Compared to a lot of European children, we have found that Kelly—just turned 12—is often taken for much older… perhaps 15. Unfortunately, her eating preferences aren’t quite at that maturity level. I do want to be sure that she gets a good meal during the walk. We took showers, worked on our packing (again!), and read out on our balcony. We’re excited to see what tomorrow will bring as we head up further into the Swiss Alps. Friday, July 29 (Engelberg to Englesnalp) Today was a tough day, especially for our first day. We only walked 8.7 miles, but we climbed up 2730 feet to the highest point of our day. the Jochpass. And although we began the day in beautiful weather, we encountered an unexpected thunder-and-lightening storm in the last hour, an hour which will go down as one of our scariest hiking experiences. We’re doing our walk once more with Sherpa Expeditions, a walking company based in Britain. The Alpine Pass Walk is our third Sherpa tour; we’ve actually done a walking every summer now for the past four summers. We like the approach of a self-guided tour. We’re supplied with a packet of maps and directions. We’re given alternatives for a more scenic or bad weather route. Our hotels are picked and reserved for us. Our luggage is moved each day. (Thank goodness, because we absolutely could not backpack for 14 days!) But we walk on our own and have a fair amount of flexibility in our walking. On this trip our walking notes offer many alternatives in the event of bad weather—alternate trails, cable cars, even buses. On a couple of days the notes even say that we need to check on conditions and not hike up over a mountain pass if there is snow. The Alpine Pass walk is only available July to September due to weather, but even in summer there could be snow at the highest elevations. This is a new experience for us—the first time we’ve hiked in Switzerland. ]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000942.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000942.html Switzerland 2005 Fri, 21 Apr 2006 19:52:59 +0100 Other photos for Munich and Lucerne are posted here. Our trip was nearing its end as we left St. Gilgen, Austria for two shorter stays in Munich, Germany and Lucerne, Switzerland. We were building our energy for the grand finale of our grand tour-- a 100 mile walk in the Swiss Alps. Saturday, July 23 - St. Gilgen to Munich We were up early to finish our final packing in our St. Gilgen apartment. Charley had spoken to Theo the caretaker, and we left behind food and some clothes that he will get to a needy family. We also doubled the size of the apartment library with a great supply of books and left behind the Rummikub game that we’ve enjoyed since Provence. Our luggage continues to shrink as we get closer to our Swiss walk. We left the keys in the apartment and drove down to the village for breakfast. We’ve really enjoyed staying in St. Gilgen and definitely will come back here again. We picked a café for breakfast (juice, coffee, rolls, meat and cheese), had a leisurely meal and then one last look at the village. Charley and Kelly stopped in a drugstore looking for shampoo. While I waited outside the shop, a woman walked by with her little dog. The dog was trotting along carrying a rolled up newspaper in its mouth. The paper was about the size of the dog! We took a different route to the autobahn (by Fuschl) and then headed toward Munich. This was the last journey of our 14-month trip that we made by car. About an hour from Salzburg we exited the autobahn for a brief detour at Bad Aibling. My parents lived in this village when I was born, and I lived here for a few months when I was a baby. (I was actually born at a military hospital in Munich.) My dad was in the army, stationed in Bad Aibling, and my parents lived in the village—not on the base. I think they actually rented a room in a woman’s house—they were just 22 and 20 when I was born, so very young and having their first of many European experiences. We returned to the USA before I was a year old, but I grew up knowing about Bad Aibling and Bavaria and perhaps that is one reason I feel such a strong connection there.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000934.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000934.html Germany 2005 Sat, 11 Feb 2006 22:41:36 +0100 here. Our second week in St. Gilgen was also so special. We spent two more days in Salzburg, hiked around the lake to the village of St. Wolfgang (seen above), hiked twice at a high plateau called the Postalm, and visited the Königssee outside Berchtesgaden. Kelly celebrated her 12th birthday this week-- her second birthday away from home on this trip-- and we had two days of activities in her honor. Kelly and and I did have a major misadventure riding double on a summer toboggan ride, though fortunately neither of us were too seriously hurt. At the end of the week we did some major repacking, leaving a suitcase and a variety of books, clothes and food behind us in St. Gilgen. This was our last of 20 rentals during our 14 month trip. For the next three weeks we will travel by train and on foot in Germany and Switzerland. Saturday, July 16 We were up early again today for our second Salzburg day. We started our day just outside the city at Hellbrunn Palace. We’ve just been to the edge of the grounds before (on the Sound of Music tour to see the famous “gazebo” from the movie), and I’ve always wanted to see the palace, especially the trick fountains. This is another place that was free because of our Salzburg cards. We paused briefly at the Sound of Music gazebo. It was moved here after the movie, and is probably a major tourist destination in Salzburg. Charley and Kelly acted silly and I took pictures. (“I’m eleven, going on twelve….) Hellbrunn Palace was built as a summer palace—a pleasure palace—for Archbishop Markus Sittkus who lived here from 1612 – 1619. Back then the Archbishops were more royalty than any kind of “spiritual” leader it seems. The palace has beautiful grounds and all the buildings are a vibrant mustard-yellow color. The style seems almost Italian. It’s hard to believe that the buildings are almost 500 years old. The most famous part of the palace is the trick water gardens. I had read about the gardens, but didn’t tell Charley and Kelly anything because I wanted them to enjoy the surprises in store. We were in a group of about 30 people, and toured the gardens with a guide. She conducted the hour-long tour in both German and English. The Archbishop constructed the gardens to play practical jokes on his friends and visitors. We must have seen ten different water jokes—from a table that squirts water up from the seats (no one accepted the offer to sit at the table—this one is well known) to a statue that squirted water on unsuspecting passersby. We went into a grotto and were squirted from hidden sprinklers on the way out. Kelly and I really enjoyed the gardens, but Charley didn’t like it at all. He was quite disgusted that a supposed man of God would have been so silly. Plus I don’t think Charley was at all interested in getting wet. Some of the children in our tour group got quite wet, but then of course they wanted to get wet and always stood right where the water was coming out. We walked through the beautiful gardens and then did a self-tour through the palace. This was all interesting, but the trick water garden was the show-stopper. After the palace, we drove over to the Stiegl brewery (called Stiegl’s Brauwelt - World of Beer), another destination included in our Salzburg card. This is supposed to be the largest exhibition on beer in all of Europe. The brewery was also on the outskirts of the city and a little hard to find, but worth our efforts. We did a fun self-tour of the brewery. There was a computer quiz about beer which Kelly took and she was very proud to get a certificate as a “beermeister”. My incredible eleven-year old kid—now a beer expert! At the end of the tour we got to go to a tavern and we each got two free beers and a big soft pretzel. Our nice waiter recommended an Austrian soft drink for Kelly called Almdudler, which she enjoyed. Our admission also included a special gift, and we selected beer glasses that we’ll ship home. There was a big gift shop full of Stiegl logo items, and Kelly bought herself a round plastic tray so she can serve drinks, something she says she’s always wanted. It started raining while we were in the brewery, and we decided not to go back into Salzburg, which had been our original plan. We had talked about going up to the massive Hohensalzburg Fortress that sits above the city and is really the symbol of Salzburg. The fortress was built in the 11th century and the largest, completely-preserved fortress in central Europe. We had just been there in December 2003 (actually on Christmas Day), and because of the rain we decided to just head back to St. Gilgen. Even though we didn’t do anything else in Salzburg, we still think we got a good deal with our Salzburg cards—probably got 150% value for what we paid for the cards. The woman at the Stiegl shop suggested a place to stop for lunch, but it was closed and then we couldn’t find another place nearby, so we headed back to the Salzkammergut. We stopped at the big grocery store outside Mondsee and bought a roast chicken from a man in a little truck outside, then took that home for lunch. We spent the rest of the afternoon reading in our little apartment. We’ve been on-the-go pretty aggressively the last couple of days and were happy to just have a lazy afternoon. For dinner we went into St. Gilgen and had dinner again at the Fischer Wirt restaurant on the waterfront. We had another really good meal outside on the terrace. This time I had salmon. We watched the dancers again, most of them the same couples from last Saturday night... some terrific dancers.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000928.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000928.html Austria 2005 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:36:01 +0100 here. When you see the photos you will know why we love this area so much. After 11 weeks in six different parts of Italy, we drove 500 miles north to very familiar territory in the Salzkammergut region of Austria. This is a very lush Alpine region of mountains and lakes, about 30 minutes from the beautiful city of Salzburg. Our family has visited Salzburg three times before, including Christmas trips in 1999 and 2003. This time we shifted our base out of the city to the village of St. Gilgen on the Wolfgangsee, one of many lakes in this region. We also traveled back across the border to Germany and spend some time in the area near Berchtesgaden. After a slow start due to bad weather, our first week was filled with outdoor activities. We were so busy and had such a great time that we managed not to think too much about going home in just a month. Saturday, July 9 Today was one of the longest drives of our trip—just over 500 miles. We left our old stone house in Umbria in central Italy about 8:30 am and got to our apartment in St. Gilgen, Austria just after 7:00 pm. We made one major stop at a rest area just north of Venice… very crowded with holiday travelers this time of year. We ate in a self-service cafeteria with great looking food, but Kelly wanted a pizza that was made to order and the whole process took a long time. This stop chewed up about an hour. The trip was mostly on really good freeways, though we ran into slow traffic when we had a stretch of non-highway driving north of Ravenna. We passed right along the coast of the Adriatic Sea; unfortunately, it wasn’t as scenic as I had expected. It was an interesting drive, and I enjoyed watching the scenery as we traveled up into Northern Italy, then into the Alps, and finally crossing the border into Austria. We stopped just across the border to buy a sticker for the Austrian highways. The traffic slowed down again as we merged into one lane to travel through a long tunnel at Katschberg, north of Villach. This was all new territory for us, and we enjoyed seeing another part of the Alps. The change in the landscape during our 500 mile trip was astonishing. Yesterday we were living in a rugged environment of scrubby mountains covered with olive trees, looking out over fields of sunflowers, living outside a village of crumbling stone houses. Today we are living in a lush and green land of mountains and lakes, in a village of wooden chalets with flower boxes overflowing with bright red geraniums. Yesterday we were eating pasta, drinking red wine, and saying “Buona sera”. Today we are eating sausages, drinking beer, and saying “Guten abend”. I love both environments, but I find myself shaking my head in astonishment at how quickly the culture changes: architecture, food, language, style. The mountains really did once provide a strong barricade that enabled totally different cultures to develop just miles apart. And the nature of the physical surroundings provided building materials and food that have also created such distinct cultures within the various European regions. Even the dramatically different weather patterns make things different. It was hot summer in Umbria… in the 90’s. Here in the Salzkammergut, it’s cool again and I need my sweater. When we left America over a year ago, I left the last five weeks of our trip unplanned. The rental of Roccia Viva in Umbria was the last arrangement I made. We knew we wanted to spend some time in or near Salzburg, but I had a terrible time finding a place to rent. This area doesn’t really market rental places to English-speaking tourists, so there weren’t lots of listings to look at or places to choose from. I don’t think there are many rental properties at all in the city of Salzburg. Finally, I just gave up. I had too many things to do to get ready for our trip to spend any more time fussing over arrangements more than a year in the future. I decided to work out the last few weeks while we were living in Provence. Salzburg, Austria is one of our very favorite places, a city we’ve come back to several times on our European travels. I first visited Salzburg in 1991, on my first-ever European trip with two girlfriends. I brought Charley and Kelly to Salzburg for three days in October 1997, and then we came back for Christmas 1999. Salzburg is an absolutely wonderful place to spend Christmas. We were back again for Christmas 2003—just a year and a half ago. In the past we’ve always stayed in the city of Salzburg, though we’ve done some day-trips out into the countryside to the lake district outside Salzburg called the Salzkammergut. When I couldn’t seem to find a rental right in the city, Charley and I talked about the possibility of staying in the Salzkammergut instead… or maybe in Berchtesgaden, Germany, just 30 minutes from Salzburg in the other direction. I finally realized that most of the rental properties around Salzburg were marketed to German-speaking people, and I learned how to find German websites for “ferienwohnungen” (holiday apartments) and then which keywords in German would help me identify possible properties. I focused on properties where there was some English information or where the owner spoke some English. That just made communication so much easier. Eventually I found an apartment in the village of St. Gilgen, a village on the Wolfgangsee, about 30 minutes from Salzburg. We had visited St. Gilgen briefly a couple of times and thought it would be an ideal location. The owner was British and good to work with through e-mail. She gave me a discount for a two week rental, and I was even able to send a check in US dollars. And so now, here we are. The apartment is just across the main road from the village, in group of modern chalet buildings. Our apartment is on the ground floor with a terrace looking out toward the lake. We have a nice view of the lake and the mountains on the opposite side of the lake, and can watch the cable car go past us to the top of the mountain behind us. The apartment is smaller than I thought from the pictures on the website, really the only “modern” place we’ve stayed our entire trip. We have a small entrance foyer; the bathroom is off the foyer. Then there’s a living/dining room with glass doors opening out to the terrace, and a very small kitchen. At first we didn’t know what happened to the bedrooms, since the door is built into a big wall unit. Charley and I have a double bedroom on the other side of the wall unit, and Kelly’s room is adjacent to ours. Her room is very, very small with two bunk beds. There is just room for the door to open without hitting the beds. But the apartment is clean and bright and a great location. Kelly is excited that there is a VCR and a couple of movies. There are even a few books that Charley and I want to read. Laundry equipment in Europe is very different than what we are used to in America, and we’ve got a machine here that is the most unique we’ve seen this past year. When I first communicated with Catherine, the owner, she told me there wasn’t a washing machine in the apartment. Later she wrote me that they had purchased a unit. Well, there is a washing machine, but it is the smallest washing machine I’ve ever seen—actually a portable washing machine! Fortunately the owner’s manual is in English, so Charley can try to figure this out. The keys were left in the mailbox for us. We carried our bags in and did just a little unpacking, then walked down to the village for dinner. We decided to eat at a big new place right on the waterfront called the Fischer Wirt, painted a pretty yellow. We sat on the outdoor terrace looking out over the Wolfgansee and the mountains. Charley loves the environment of the German/Austrian Alps… well, we all do. This was a great spot to begin our two-week stay. Our meal was very good. We all had our favorite goulash soup, then I had fish (trout from the lake), Charley had wiener schnitzel, and Kelly had pasta. We immediately switched from our Italian beverage of choice (red wine) to our Austrian beverage of choice (beer), though I’m having a much harder time switching to my limited German vocabulary. The restaurant had a live band tonight, and we enjoyed listening to the music and watching people dance. There were some very good dancers. After dinner we took a late-night stroll around the village. We found a bakery where Charley can go in the morning to get our breakfast. We’re excited about the prospect of Austrian breads for breakfast.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000927.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000927.html Austria 2005 Tue, 13 Dec 2005 20:11:21 +0100 We wanted to let everyone know that we finished our 100 mile walk in the Swiss Alps yesterday near Gstaad. We took a scenic train to Geneva at noon and have had several hours to visit this beautiful city. We fly out of Geneva tomorrow. The walk was a real challenge, mainly because of the high mountains but also due to weather. Kelly and I had one abbreviated day because I fell on a wet road and bruised my knee, but Charley hiked this whole segment which was the highest and most difficult day of the walk. The next day we all ended up with a short day because it was snowing on top of the mountain. We walked several hours in the rain to another town and then took a bus the rest of the way instead of trying to cross the mountain in the snow. Fortunately the last two days were perfect and we were even able to hike in shorts. We really enjoyed our time in Switzerland and it was a great way to end our trip. We especially enjoyed our new friendships with three British hikers who were on our same schedule and in our same hotels. We will post a more detailed blog on our Swiss walk when we are back home. We have a lot to do over the next two weeks to get settled back in our house. Kelly is looking forward to seeing her dog Milly and starting school next Wednesday. And so onward to new adventures now this one is almost over! http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000892.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000892.html Wed, 10 Aug 2005 17:29:40 +0100 this website. We have six more days on our walk, including one rest day. Then we will travel to Geneva by train and leave for home next Thursday morning... August 11th. Our long adventure is really coming to an end with our Swiss Walk the grand finale. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next few days as we finish our walk and make the flight across the ocean. ]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000888.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000888.html Switzerland 2005 Wed, 03 Aug 2005 16:09:40 +0100 We knew very little about Umbria before we arrived for our two-week stay on June 25. I knew it was adjacent to Tuscany and similar in some ways, but I hadn’t really done any research and didn’t even buy a guidebook. Other than Assisi, I’m not sure I could have named any famous towns or cities in Umbria. But a few Slow Travel friends had highly recommended the area, several even preferring it to the more-popular Tuscany. At some point in our trip planning I decided to look into spending a week in Umbria. In part we ended up in Umbria because I fell in love with a rental apartment I found on the internet. I never even sent out any other inquiries for Umbria rentals. Once I saw this place, I knew I wanted to stay there and that we would go to Umbria… in fact, we would stay there two weeks. Umbria was an unexpected delight, the apartment even better than I had expected. We traveled only two hours from our month-long base in the village of Chiusure, in an area of Tuscany called the Crete, to reach our new home in Umbria. Our route took us through familiar territory near Cortona, the landscape changing from rolling hills to rocky, more mountainous terrain. We passed into Umbria on a modern freeway, along the north shore of Lake Trasimeno. Charley was interested to be at the site where Hannibal defeated the Romans in 217 BC. Our route took us past Perugia, the capital of Umbria, a large city that blended the ancient and the modern worlds. As we traveled south down the freeway, picturesque towns clung to the sides of mountains—Assisi, Spello, then Trevi. The steep mountainside around Trevi was covered with olive trees, quite unlike anything we had seen in the olive-growing regions of France. We later learned that some of the best olive oil in Italy is produced in this area. Huge fields of sunflowers seemed to be everywhere, in full bloom… masses of vibrant gold. I felt happy just to be around so many sunflowers. We liked what we saw of Umbria. http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000882.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000882.html Italy 2005 Mon, 25 Jul 2005 11:05:27 +0100 Our Leisurely Life Other than our six-and-a-half months in Provence, our time in Tuscany is the longest stay of our trip. We haven’t settled down as residents in quite the same way we did in Provence, but we’ve been able to explore Tuscany in a much more leisurely fashion. We’ve enjoyed being able to take the days more slowly, relaxing from the aggressive sightseeing schedule of the previous six weeks. Tuscany covers an extensive geographical area in central Italy, and our base in Chiusure enabled us to reach much of the region. We’ve gotten to know many of the neighboring towns and villages of Southern Tuscany well: the wine towns Montalcino and Montepulciano, Pienza known for its sheep cheese, the old walled town Buonconvento where we do our grocery shopping, the smaller villages Montisi and Monticchiello. One afternoon we visited Sant’Antimo, a beautiful 12th century church set in a peaceful valley below Montalcino, and watched the age-old ritual of the monks’ Gregorian chants. Kelly and I especially like Bagno Vignoni with its beautiful views and hot springs. We’ve spent a couple of lazy days at the Hotel Posta-Marucci, occasionally dipping into the two pools (one hot and the other even hotter) while Charley reads a book in the shade. The whole environment feels like something from another era… older men and women in big white bathrobes stepping into the hot bath to take some kind of cure, everyone (men and women) wearing the mandatory bathing caps. With the advantage of a full month, we’ve also been able to make several longer day trips… to Siena (twice), Pisa and Lucca, Volterra, San Gimignano, Chianti (twice), and Cortona. We visited San Gimignano late one afternoon, arriving in this town of 14 towers after most of the tour buses had left for the day. Chianti is one of our favorite areas, the lush green countryside and manicured vineyards such a contrast to our base in the barren clay pits of the Crete. Outside of Castellina in Chianti we visited a large Etruscan burial mound that dates back to the 4th century BC…. now sitting unattended (and fortunately empty) off the main road. ]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000880.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000880.html Italy 2005 Tue, 19 Jul 2005 13:53:03 +0100 I’m in Kelly’s spacious and sunny room, reclining in my favorite spot on the chaise lounge next to the wide double window that looks southeast. The windows are wide open and the light breeze is relaxing, almost hypnotic. The bell tower of the old village church is just below me. The bells ring every half hour, even through the night. Four bells, a pause, then two peals of a different bell. It’s 4:30 in the afternoon, and we’re halfway through our laid-back month in the Tuscan countryside. Our little house… an apartment really… is one of several built into the old castle walls in the tiny hilltop village of Chiusure in an area of Tuscany south of Siena called the “Crete”. (Chiusure is pronounced “key-zur-ray,” which I never seem to get right, much to Kelly’s frustration.) Our neighbor Gary told us that Chiusure was likely an ancient village founded by the Etruscans, a pre-Roman civilization that dominated central Italy from about the 8th century BC until the 1st century BC. He said our building probably dates back to the 10th century, which means it’s over a thousand years old. The 10th century… that’s 900-something. The three of us can hardly comprehend this thought. In Knoxville I worked in a 100-year-old “historic” building that I proudly considered old. But in the 900’s—five centuries before Christopher Columbus sailed across the sea—America was undeveloped, a vast wilderness inhabited by primitive Indians. Meanwhile here in Chiusure there was a castle and someone was living inside these same walls where we’re spending our month, cooking their meals on the huge stone fireplace, perhaps even daydreaming by this same window looking out across a view that has changed little in 1000 years. Once America was discovered, progress came quickly. But here in this part of Tuscany, the modern age has developed more slowly. Life is simple on our Tuscan hilltop. http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000874.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000874.html Italy 2005 Fri, 01 Jul 2005 11:17:25 +0100 We stood inside the busy Florence train station, waiting for the arrival of the 9:21 am train from Rome. It was our third day in Florence and a day we had looked forward to for almost a year. Kelly held a handmade sign with elaborate decorations. “Libbie Griffin,” her sign said in big black letters. “We are the Woods.” There were pictures of an Italian chef, a pizza, and a bottle of wine. We were at the station to meet my friend Libbie who lives in North Carolina. Libbie is one of several “travel friends” I’ve made on the internet, and I was about to meet her in person for the first time. I had a giddy sense of excitement… like being on the Dating Game and waiting for the bachelor I had chosen to come around the corner. Libbie had responded to one of my very early postings on Slow Travel in the summer of 2003, the one where I first expressed my dream to spend a year in Europe. She not only shared that dream… she and her husband had lived it a year or two before, spending a year traveling around Europe after his retirement. As I began to inch toward our life-changing decision and then to plan our own trip, Libbie was a source of encouragement, advice and great information. I confided with Libbie about our plans long before we told our family and friends. She was a kindred spirit. Now we found ourselves in Tuscany at the same time. Libbie was taking the train up from southern Tuscany to meet us in Florence, and we were all going to a cooking class together, a cooking class with the famous “Diva,” also a regular contributor to the Slow Travel message board.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000871.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000871.html Italy 2005 Mon, 20 Jun 2005 15:10:02 +0100 May 14, 2005 Charley said he woke up during the night to the sounds of partying on the streets of Trastevere… people singing in our normally quiet little street at 4 am. This morning he was up early to buy breakfast pastries. The bakery is so close he can make the round trip in five minutes. We had our quick breakfast, and then Charley and Kelly walked to the post office to mail a box home while I finished packing. They were gone an incredibly long time, and the cleaning woman arrived while they were still gone. She started a load of sheets in the washing machine… I had no idea how she would dry them in this small apartment. Many people in the Italian cities hang their wash outside their windows or string clotheslines between two windows. Clothes dryers seem almost non-existent in Europe… I’m not quite sure why. Maybe there’s no room for dryers in the small apartments or maybe there are economic or energy issues. I have a whole new appreciation for my big clothes dryer at home. Charley and Kelly finally rushed in from the post office. They said they had the slowest postal clerk in all of Italy—a trainee. They decided not to try to deal with the two smaller packages for friends, and so we crammed them in our luggage. Five minutes after they returned, we were saying “ciao” to the cleaning woman and heading out the door, carrying our luggage down the narrow steps. We pulled and carried our luggage along the rough cobblestone street to the Piazza de Trilussa. When we were at the Vatican last Wednesday, someone handed us a flyer about a transportation service to the airport. I waved the man away, but Kelly took the flyer and thought it was something we might be interested in. Charley called for information and decided it was a good deal. We were considering taking a tram to the Trastevere train station and then taking the train to the Rome airport. This would have required hauling our bags a long way to the tram stop and then dealing with our luggage on the tram and train. The van service was normally 32 euro for three people, but we paid 40 euro because of our extra bags. A few minutes after we arrived at the square, we were in a very nice van with two women from Boston who were returning home after two weeks in Venice, Florence and Rome. It was a 30 minute trip to the airport, stress-free and well worth the 40 euro… far better than dealing with lots of walking, hauling luggage, a crowded tram, and a train. We went to the airport to pick up our third and final car of the trip, another leased Renault. We arrived at the airport about 10:30. Our appointment to pick up the car wasn’t until 11:30, so we found a table in a nearby snack bar and had drinks and shared a small sandwich. Then Charley called the Renault office, and we waited at a designated place for the person. Near where we were waiting there were at least ten men in ill-fitting suits… there to meet people coming off the international flights. They were all holding big cards with names… drivers taking people to the countryside and tour group representatives. Finally our person arrived and fifteen minutes later we were leaving the airport in a brand new Renault station wagon… just like the car we returned in Milan two weeks ago except for a slight difference in color. The drive from Rome to the Amalfi Coast was about three hours, mostly on a very good motorway (toll road). We stopped for gas a few exits after the airport and then stopped to use the restroom and have some lunch at one of the motorway service areas. We got pizza at a Spizzico, the same chain restaurant that the people we met at Como owned. This was probably the cheapest lunch we’ve had in our three weeks in Italy—11 euros for three big pieces of spicy salami pizza (a quarter of a pie each), two drinks, and a bowl of fruit. Charley said that it was the best pizza he’d had in Italy, but Kelly and I didn’t think so…. his piece was piping hot and our pieces had sat there for a while. The scenery changed dramatically very quickly. Thirty minutes after leaving the Leonardo da Vinci airport in Fiumicino, we were in the Italian countryside… mountains, hilltop villages, farmland, vineyards… even some sheep and cows. Initially we thought the countryside was very pastoral—quite different from the ruggedness of Provence—but then we passed near some rocky little mountains in Abruzzo that reminded us of the Luberon. It was very hazy today and the hills were fuzzy. I’d love to make this drive on a perfectly clear day. We’ll actually travel back up this same road next Saturday, so maybe I’ll get lucky then. Our itinerary in Italy may seem strange, because we’re doing some backtracking. I did have a logic when I put it all together…. though it’s hard to remember now. We visited Venice and Rome back-to-back because we didn’t need a car in either place. Also, I wanted to visit Venice and Rome in the spring (what turned out to be the first part of May), to avoid the heat and crowds later on. And I wanted to get down to the Amalfi Coast while the prices were still lower. So our 11-week itinerary in Italy has been: Como, Venice, Rome, Amalfi Coast (the southernmost place), then back up to Florence, Tuscany, and Umbria. We considered going all the way down to Sicily, but decided instead to spend a full month in Tuscany. I had considered not having a car on the Amalfi Coast because the driving is supposed to be so difficult. I worried that Charley’s fear of heights would make it difficult for him to drive on the steep and narrow coastal roads. But he thought he would be fine and was hesitant to entrust his safety to bus drivers… and having our own car made it easier—and probably cheaper—to get here. It will be interesting to see how we end up getting around the area. We took a route that bypassed the big city of Naples. At Nocera we exited the motorway and started picking our way over to a big mountain range that separated us from the Mediterranean Sea. In some places the route was well-marked—blue signs that said Ravello and brown signs that said Costiera Amalfitana—but we got confused in several places. We passed through a few depressing towns. It was hard to believe this route would lead us to the glamorous destination of the Amalfi Coast. Finally we spotted the signs again and turned up into the mountains. The little road went quickly up the steep hillside, passing fields of lemon trees and other crops. I saw one field of small artichokes. The narrow road twisted and turned, and Charley navigated carefully. Several buses passed us going down the mountain. We reached the top with a choice of two directions—another place where things weren’t clearly marked—and we had to ask for help… just eight kilometers to go. We headed down the Valico d’Chiunzi past the peak of Mont Cerreto at 4343 feet. Finally we were rewarded with a sweeping view of the bright blue sea and houses clinging to the craggy hillside. It was absolutely lovely. Ravello sits high up on a rocky spur separating two valleys, looking across the Gulf of Salerno. We’re renting our villa directly from the owner, a lawyer who lives in Naples. I looked at a lot of options on the Amalfi Coast and considered several different locations. It’s expensive to stay here and would be even more expensive a month or two from now. I thought Ravello seemed more like us—less glitzy and touristy than Positano or Amalfi, famous resort towns which are right on the sea. Parking in Ravello is complicated and the logistics of getting to our villa were challenging, especially with our luggage. Ravello is a pedestrian village with tiny cobblestone streets. The main square in front of the Duomo (cathedral) is very attractive… leafy shade trees, big terracotta pots of bright flowers, and groupings of tables under umbrellas. Well-dressed guests were just arriving for a wedding in the Duomo. We parked in an expensive pay lot below the square and followed our directions to the villa. We carried our backpacks and the computer bag on this first trip. Because my shoulder is still bothering me (not helped by the hauling of luggage this morning), Charley carried my pack. Kelly thinks I’m faking this, but I’m really hurting. This is very unlike me as I rarely have any kind of physical issue. Our villa was a good ten minutes walk from the parking lot, including a fair number of steps, both up and down. It was a tough walk, and I know Charley was thinking about how we would get the rest of our luggage along this route. We passed several wonderful ceramics shops that Kelly and I can’t wait to explore. At one point we passed under the portico of a very old church, the Chiesa di San Francesco. We followed the signs to the famous Villa Cimbrone, which is located just next to our villa. Finally we turned down a steep path (more steps), arrived at a black iron gate, and entered our villa through a pretty garden. Stanislao Frigenti was an attractive man about 40 with a nice smile and a very pleasant manner. His English was very good. He told us his family has owned this house for 25 years, and he showed us some pictures of the ruin the house had been when his father bought it. We had exchanged several e-mails about our rental, and he was interested to learn about our trip. He commented that he knew of several Americans who had done a long trip like this and that this is not something Italians would ever do. I said I thought that was because Italians have a lot of vacation every year, but Americans have relatively little time off work and must be a schoolteacher, retired or leave their jobs in order to have a trip longer than two weeks. Stanislao’s eight-year-old son was with him, and the little boy slipped away brought back ice cream cones for he and Kelly. Very sweet! There is apparently a porter in Ravello who has a motorized cart for transporting luggage from the main square, and we talked about possibly calling this man to help us with our heavier bags. Stanislao thought it might cost 20 euro, so Charley decided to deal with the luggage himself. Charley set off back to the parking lot while Kelly and I were still getting the tour of the house and talking about Ravello. Charley returned 20 minutes later with two of the bags, sweating profusely. While Charley was gone, the gardener came by—Signore Panteleone—an older gentleman who speaks absolutely no English and is missing about two thirds of his teeth. I know this because he gave us a very big smile. I smiled back, using one of my few Italian phrases (“Buon Giorno, Signore”), and I shook his hand, very brown from a lifetime of working in the dirt. We’ll leave the key with Signore Panteleone when we depart on Saturday morning. After Stanislao left, Charley was anxious to get the rest of the luggage to the house and move the car out of the pay lot to a free spot somewhere in the village. I think we will end up leaving our car in this spot for much of the week and using buses and ferries to get around. The three of us walked back to the car and retrieved the other two bags—the large blue bag and the smaller red suitcase. Charley took the bigger bag and Kelly and I took turns with the red bag. A big set of stairs went right up from the parking lot—(equivalent to about a three-story building), followed by the long walk through the village, including several steep places where there was a choice of ramps or stairs. Kelly was happy to take responsibility for our bag when the route was downhill, which it was part of the way. We did see one of the little motorized carts, possibly belonging to one of the hotels. It was a strange mix of a lawnmower, a tank and a sled. After we got the rest of our bags to the villa, we walked back to the center of the village again. The wedding was just ending at the cathedral and the guests were spilling down the steps. Tourists were watching, hoping to get a look at the bride and groom. Charley moved the car while Kelly and I started some grocery shopping. There are several small shops in the village but not a big supermarket. We went to a macelleria (butcher’s), an alimentari (small grocery shop), and a fruttivendola (fruit/produce shop), buying some staples and food for the next two days. At the alimentari, we had to ask the grocer to get many of the items that were behind his counter. Other people were waiting in the crowded shop, and I found it an awkward shopping experience, especially because of our limited Italian. The butcher was very nice and gave Kelly a scrap of meat to feed to a little dog outside. Charley joined up with us (he had been quite successful getting a parking spot), bought two bottles of wine at an enoteca (wine shop), and helped us carry our purchases back. We had a glass of wine, relaxed on our terrace, and enjoyed the evening view of the hillside. Charley says this is probably the prettiest spot that we’ve had—and we have had some wonderful spots. We can’t see much of the sea from here (just a glimpse from the two terraces), but we have a spectacular view across the Valle del Dragone to the hillside (mountainside) rising steeply. The small village of Pontone is just below us on the other side of the valley, and there’s another village or two up much higher. The hillside is terraced most of the way— Stanislao said they grow lemons, grapes, and olives—and we can see a tiny road winding its way up through the terraces. Most of the lemon trees are still covered with a black nylon netting to protect them from the wind. It’s really quite spectacular. Our house is just wonderful—especially the stunning views of the valley. After last week’s disappointing apartment in Rome, I was very nervous about what we would find. Charley said I’ve redeemed myself with another great location. Our house is spacious and spread out over three levels. And we have three outdoor spaces to enjoy as well. On the lower level there’s a big outdoor garden with a covered eating area, lounge chairs, a barbeque and even a wood-fired pizza oven. Stanislao showed Kelly and I how to use the outdoor oven to make pizza, though I’m not sure I remember the instructions. The little yard has beautiful shrubs and flowers, a small vegetable garden, and a big lemon tree that grows up through the pergola shading the outdoor table. Signore Panteleone has done good work! The first level of the house has a large outdoor terrace that extends the length of the villa with a sitting area and eating table. Inside there’s a small dining room and an adjacent kitchen. The first bathroom (with the washing machine) is off the next landing of the stairs. The stairs then lead to the second level and the main living room—bright and spacious with wicker furniture. There’s a comfortable seating area and another dining table. Kelly’s room—with two single beds—is off the living room. Double doors lead from the living room to another big terrace. This terrace has a tightly woven ceiling of vines. Narrow spiral stairs lead up to the third level—a big master bedroom and the second bathroom. The master bedroom is in a cave-shaped room with sloping walls and big double windows at the end. It’s very clean, spacious, comfortable and light. There’s not another terrace, but there is a beautiful view looking across to the other side of the valley and a partial view of the sea. I fixed a quick dinner of kind of a beef stroganoff (I didn’t end up with enough beef once I had cut off all the fat), pasta with butter, and asparagus. I got pretty stressed out while cooking since the stovetop is very small and I couldn’t have all three of my pans over burners at the same time. It took a really long time to get water to boil over the smallest burner. (I had this same problem last week in Rome.) The small kitchen got very hot, and it bothered me that both Charley and Kelly hovering around the stove. “I don’t need any help,” I said. I might have even said, “Leave me alone!” “Calm down Mommy,” Kelly said as I was stressing out over the cooking. It infuriates me to have an eleven-year old tell me to calm down. “You’re never allowed to say that to me again,” I told her tonight, though I really did need to calm down. I just need to plan simpler meals while we are here. We ate our dinner outside and watched the lights flicker on across the valley. We could hear the church bells echoing from the villages of Minuta and Scala on the other side of the valley. I unpacked my things, but Kelly and Charley both begged off unpacking tonight because it was so late. Charley doesn’t want to maneuver his big bag up the twisty stairs, so I’m not sure what he’ll do. I don’t want his suitcase and piles of clothes in the nice living room. He really hasn’t unpacked his suitcase since we’ve left Provence. I personally don’t want to live out of a suitcase for the next several months, and have made a point of really unpacking each week. Ideally I would even like to hide the suitcases. We were sloppy in Rome last week. I think because the apartment was so cluttered, we just let ourselves be cluttered too. I have asked Kelly and Charley to help me keep this pretty place in Ravello looking neat. We read until bedtime. Of course, Charley wanted to sleep with the windows wide open. We don’t have the street noises of Trastevere here… just fresh breezes and the smell of wisteria, jasmine, and (could it be possible?) lemon trees. We already love being here.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000870.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000870.html Italy 2005 Sat, 11 Jun 2005 15:18:24 +0100 We really enjoyed our week in Rome… one of civilization’s most famous and influential cities. Kelly was the leader for our week of sightseeing, and did a wonderful job researching and planning our activities. She barely let us break for lunch, and we saw most of Rome on foot. It’s a very walk-able city, but we were glad we were in pretty good shape. We visited many of the sites of Ancient Rome (the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, Trajan’s Market, Palatine Hill, Circus Maximus). We must have walked inside fifteen churches... filled with paintings and sculptures by the great masters. We also visited many of Rome’s famous squares and fountains—the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, and Campo di Fiori. The highlight of our week was our day at the Vatican City. We were able to attend Pope Benedict XVI’s first public audience in St. Peter’s Square. We also toured the Vatican museums (including Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel) and St. Peter’s Basilica. Kelly and I climbed up into the dome, and then I climbed all the way to the cupola for a wonderful view of Rome. Saturday, May 7 I didn’t sleep well last night and neither did Charley. I think Charley was anxious about the logistics of getting the luggage to the train station on the vaporetto. I was excited about going to Rome, but also found myself thinking of Provence in the sleepless early hours. We’ve been gone for three weeks, and I still miss it a lot. We got Kelly up at 6:30 am and finished getting her big blue bag and Charley’s big bag ready. Although we originally planned to take an expensive water taxi back to the train station, we settled on a better plan that cost us almost nothing extra. We used the 24-hour vaporetto (water bus) pass we’d bought yesterday mid-morning (it was still good till mid-morning today) and took the vaporetto to the station. Charley took the two big bags to the station first and put them in storage, rather than us trying to take all the luggage in one trip. Charley left on this first trip just before 7 am. After he left, Kelly and I took showers and finished our packing. We even had time to sit on the floor and play a game of double solitaire. Charley was back before 8:30, and his trip to the station had gone just fine. The Contessa came down with her little dog Webby at 9. We settled up on utilities and said our goodbyes. She’s a very nice person, and she works hard to run a first-class operation with her four apartments. I like the fact that she still lives in the home that’s belonged to her family for 400 years. We told her how much we liked Webby. She told a story about a bigger dog they had when she was a girl, a dog who normally lived at their bigger palace in the country. One day the dog was at the palazetto in Venice—in the room that’s been our living room—and saw a cat in a gondola on the canal below. The dog jumped out of the window down two stories to get the cat, but landed at the other end of the gondola. We left the palazetto at 9 am, each with a backpack and one rolling bag (I had the computer bag.) It was tricky navigating up and down the steps of the several bridges we had to cross, so I can only imagine how tough it was for Charley with the two big duffel bags. I felt a little sentimental about making this now-familiar trip along the tiny streets one last time. We must have walked the same route least 10 times during our week. I saw the Italian mama from our Thursday night restaurant on the street (the one who I think we offended when Charley had a question about the bill) and I said “Buon Giorno” to her. She recognized me and gave me a big smile. We rode on the vaporetto with two nice American women from St. Louis. We chatted with them the whole way to the station—they were headed to Florence and then Rome…what seems a typical itinerary for many Americans. The boat got quite crowded, but fortunately we boarded early in the route and had staked out our territory. The train station was very busy on this Saturday morning. Charley retrieved our big bags from storage and we waited for our platform to be posted. Our train seemed totally full. I like riding on the trains, but getting on and off the trains is very stressful because of our luggage. It’s hard lugging the bags up onto the train and then finding a place to store them. If I were starting over again on this trip, I would definitely do our luggage differently. We have too much stuff, but it really has been hard to pack for such a long trip that extends over all four seasons. Kelly and I were sorry to leave Venice, but Charley seemed glad to leave it behind and isn’t inclined to come again. I told Kelly maybe she and I will come sometime on a “girls trip.” The trip to Rome took five hours. The train stopped at several places, including Padua, Bologna and Florence. I had hoped to get a good view of Florence, but the route didn’t show us much of anything. We’ll have to wait to see it up close in two weeks. I read a little, dozed off for a while, and looked at scenery. We ate some sandwiches that Charley and Kelly bought at the Venice station. The countryside was very beautiful, and we spotted several castles and hilltop villages. We were especially interested to get our first look at Tuscany and Umbria, areas where we’ll spend a lot of time this summer. Kelly was very busy almost the whole trip working on our Rome itinerary. She is the family “leader” for Rome and is taking her assignment very seriously. We arrived in Rome (Roma in Italian) about 3:15 pm. Kelly was extremely excited—she is especially interested in Rome since this is “her” city. We let everyone else get off the train before us, which made it a lot easier with our luggage. We’ve rented our apartment in Rome through an agency, and I called from the station to let them know we were heading to the apartment. Kelly bought a Rome map at a newsstand, and then we took a cab to our apartment in the Trastevere area of Rome. We all looked eagerly out the windows during our drive across the city—our first time in Rome! It seemed an exciting and beautiful city with ancient history integrated everywhere. There were many more trees than I had expected—even palm trees. We drove along the famous Tiber river (Tevere in Italian), lined with big leafy trees on either side. At one point we passed a big limousine with a bride in the back—the man sitting beside her was considerably older. Was it her father or groom?? Our taxi ride to Trastevere took about 20 minutes. Trastevere (which is “across the Tevere”) is the Roman version of Paris’ Left Bank…kind of a bohemian neighborhood with lots of nightlife. Sounds just the place for the hip Wood family! We passed a couple of nice looking cafes with people sitting at the outdoor tables enjoying a late lunch. The driver let us off a few blocks away from our street—Vicolo del Bologna—since it’s a pedestrian area. The streets are dark and almost gloomy… very narrow and made of old cobblestone. Laundry hangs out the windows of the old, dirty buildings and tiny cars and motorcycles are parked wherever a spot can be found. The graffiti makers have been very busy in this area… it’s absolutely everywhere, and not especially artistic. As we searched for number 20, a woman called to us from a window above the door. It was the owner of our apartment, a woman whose name I never quite understood—Dalu or maybe Daria. Her last name was Jones but also possibly Patane. She told us she had once been married to an Englishman named Jones. The mailbox had four different last names. Maybe her adult daughter sometimes lives here too. I decided just to think of her as Signora Jones. She seemed to be in her 60’s, perhaps even older… white/gray hair arranged in an untidy knot on the back of her head… an art historian who specializes in Islamic art. Her English was very good… that of a very educated person. It was difficult to place her accent—she said she was part Belgian and part Italian but had lived many years in London. Our time with Signora Jones—perhaps thirty minutes—was quite frantic and somewhat confusing. She gave us a tour of the apartment and told us what we needed to know about various appliances. She gave us a map of Rome and made several suggestions of where to go, what to do and how to get there. She answered our practical questions about grocery stores and internet cafes, what to do with the trash, what to do when we leave next Saturday. She was clearly in a hurry to leave… her husband was downstairs somewhere in a car and they were headed to another house they own in the countryside—near Grosseto in Tuscany. Her cellphone rang several times. Her dog cowered in a corner of the hallway. Several plastic sacks and suitcases she was taking with her were scattered in various places. She was very interested in our trip and then—surprisingly and quite seriously—invited us to come visit them in Tuscany… even to spend the night. Finally she bustled out with the dog, in a flurry to meet her husband. Charley helped her carry down some of her bags. He shook hands with her husband downstairs and reported back that the husband seemed much younger. Ten minutes later there was a knock at the door—Signora Jones again, back to pick up several things she had forgotten. The apartment—our home for seven days—was a tremendous shock to all of us, an enormous contrast to the refined and elegant environment of the Palazetto da Schio in Venice. I had looked at a lot of options in Rome and finally found this apartment through a rental agency website. I liked what I saw in the photos—a comfortable décor, lots of books in the living room, two bedrooms, and a reasonable price for Rome. The agency website noted that this was a “subrental,” which meant it was someone’s personal apartment… not an apartment that was only rented out to vacationers. I had e-mailed the agency representative to try to understand this, and he responded that the owner lived mainly in the countryside and that there would potentially be a closet with the owners’ clothes or most personal belongings. The reality is that this is a very much lived-in apartment—a first floor apartment in an 18th century building. I think it’s possible that Signora Jones has had this apartment for 20 years or so, since it certainly seems like there are 20 years of accumulated possessions all over the apartment…. not just stored in a personal closet. I do like the living room—three very comfortable couches covered with pretty blue and white throws and bright sofa pillows, a square blue table with chairs. What was supposed to be a “balcony,” is just a tiny outdoor area—maybe nine square feet—holding the electrical box, a bucket and mop, a bunch of plants, and the large head of a statue. It does provide some natural light into the living room. As I had seen in the website photos, there really are lots and lots of books—not just in the living room but crammed into floor to ceiling bookcases both sides of the narrow hallway. There must be a few thousand books and even a ladder to reach books on the high shelves. We were all excited about the idea of new reading material, and I climbed on the ladder to look at the titles on the higher shelves. Unfortunately, almost all the books relate to Islamic art or Asian history. Although most of the books are in English, there aren’t any page-turning novels. There really isn’t a single book that I want to read and not anything for Kelly. The apartment also has lots of “stuff” on the walls and shelves—personal photos, mementoes, and lots of Islamic or Asian type prints and objects. All the artwork seemed appealing on the website, but the theme hadn’t been evident in the small photos. There are two dresser drawers and a closet for our use. Every other bit of space is filled with Signora Jones’ stuff. Only the refrigerator was totally empty—and absolutely spotless—when we arrived. I didn’t quite know what to do. Kelly was really turned off by the Asian theme for some reason… actually afraid of a few things. And Charley is so fastidious—I could tell he was almost horrified. Was the apartment going to be clean enough for him? I found myself apologizing and even asked if he felt we could stay here. He responded that I’d done a great job with all our accommodations throughout the long trip and that we could make it work. It didn’t make me feel a whole lot better about this particular place. We also had a problem with the bedroom assignments. I had been so pleased to find an economical apartment with two bedrooms so Kelly could have her own room instead of sleeping on a couch as she did in London and Paris. The two bedrooms are off of the book-lined hallway, both with windows out to the narrow street. Neither of the rooms has a proper door—just curtains separating them from the hallway. One room has a queen-sized bed and the other room has a very small double bed. The second room should have been Kelly’s, but she was frightened by some of the Oriental art. The bed in this room is too small for Charley and I to share. We decided that Kelly and I would share the larger bed this week and let Charley have the smaller bed. At least he can sleep with his window wide open. The kitchen and bath are next to each other on the other side of the living room. Both are very small and I could see Charley checking out the cleanliness. It was too depressing to unpack. Charley and Kelly both seemed to plan to live out of suitcases for the week. We went out to get gelato, walked around the neighborhood a bit, and then went to get some groceries at a very small alimentari. There wasn’t much of a selection. Kelly had planned dinner at a pizzeria ( Dar Poeta) she read about in the guidebook that was actually on our street. We walked by, but it wasn’t open. It didn’t seem possible that there was a pizzeria worthy of being in a guidebook behind those closed doors. We went back to the apartment for a while. I did go ahead and hang up a few of my clothes and used one of the empty drawers. At 7 pm we went out for dinner. The Dar Poeta pizzeria still wasn’t open. Some of the workers were sitting at one of outdoor tables and seemed very indifferent to us. The pizza must have been great, because the environment sure wasn’t. We walked on down the street and found an ideal place called Da Otello—a pizzeria and trattoria. The atmosphere was wonderful—just what we were looking for. It wasn’t expensive and the people were nice… and most important, the food was really good! There was a self-service antipasto bar that I ordered… at least 20 different bowls and plates of various vegetables, either marinated in olive oil or lightly fried in breadcrumbs—artichokes, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, white beans, olives. I had saltimbocca (veal with prosciutto, sage and white wine) for my main course. This is something I often order at Italian restaurants at home and one of my favorites. Charley had the menu turistico (lasagna, saltimbocca, and dessert). Kelly had a spicy pasta (arrabbiata) that she really enjoyed and then chicken. Two musicians came inside and played for a few minutes as we were leaving. We paid 41 euro for a good meal and a lot of food. We definitely will go back to this place later in the week. Trastevere was very busy when we left the restaurant at 9 pm. The area is packed with restaurants and clubs—though fortunately our little street is mostly residential and very quiet. On the other streets and squares we saw lots and lots of people… sitting at sidewalk tables or just out walking. We heard music coming from several directions. This is kind of an unusual place for our family to be… we really aren’t hip! Charley said it reminds him of the French quarter in New Orleans. The apartment will take some getting used to, but I hope we can adjust and have a good week. ]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000843.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000843.html Italy 2005 Thu, 02 Jun 2005 17:01:31 +0100 Saturday, April 30 We woke up early our last morning in Domaso… even Kelly was up by seven. We finished our final bit of packing and somehow managed to fit everything into two big duffel bags, two medium rolling suitcases (replacing the third big bag that we left in Provence), three backpacks and the computer bag. Somewhere buried in our luggage are 12 packages of ramen noodle soup, a variety of spices, our pepper grinder and supply of peppercorns, my olivewood herbes de Provence grinder, aluminum foil and plastic wrap, and a few other kitchen items. Kelly found a place for Charley’s jar of peanut butter, but I had to leave behind what remained of our big bottle of olive oil from Provence. The bags were incredibly heavy, especially my pack. Kelly and I are wearing our hiking boots to avoid having to fit them into our suitcases. And I have my jacket hanging off the back of my pack. We will definitely need to do another “purge” in Venice. Gio came down to the apartment a few minutes after nine to return our security deposit and say goodbye. He’s been a very good host. We left him with a small pile of clothes to give to a needy family (including Kelly’s well-worn sneakers), two boxes of food, and a couple of books. We took Gio’s photo with Kelly out in the flower garden by the pretty swimming pool and hugged him goodbye. Our morning route took us all the way down the west side of the lake to Como, a road we’ve now taken several times. It was another very hazy day and we could barely see the mountains and the other side of the lake. There were lots of cyclists out today, frustrating Charley as he tried to find the right moment to pass them. The motorcyclists then passed us… whizzing by at dangerous speeds. We drove through Gravedona and Dongo, Menaggio, and then Lenno. In Tremezzo we passed right by the Villa Carlotta where we’d been just yesterday, glimpsing the pretty azaleas and rhododendrons on the hillside and the little stone dwarfs at the far end. Just outside of Como—at Cernobbio—we swung away from the lake, passing right by the big mall where we had gone to the Spizzico restaurant with the two grandparents and Noami. At this point we took a motorway south toward the Malpensa airport, located almost an hour outside the big city of Milan. Charley had called twice to confirm our appointment with the Renault representative to return our leased car. The man didn’t speak very good English, but he told Charley he would meet us at Gate 16 of Terminal 1. Charley had said we’d be there at 11:45 am, but we got there much more quickly than we expected and arrived at the airport about 11. We circled the airport to find a temporary place to park for a short time, then I went in the busy airport to use the restroom. We circled again and pulled up to the curb just outside Gate 16 around 11:30. We piled our luggage on the curb and Kelly and I stood watch while Charley went in to use the restroom. I’m particularly nervous about protecting our computer bag. The Renault man arrived right at 11:45 am, and we turned over the station wagon that’s been our car since our trip to Barcelona over two months ago. We’ll be without a car for the next two weeks—in Venice and Rome—and will get another leased Renault for two months when we leave Rome. The man was very friendly and personally led us into the airport and then downstairs to show us where to catch the bus to the central train station in Milan. The bus was very economical—5 euro each for a 50 minute trip. We were able to store most of our luggage in the big luggage compartment underneath the bus, so even that was easy. Kelly and I read most of the trip—we’re both reading John Grisham. She finished The Testament and I finished The Summons. We didn’t see much of Milan, and what we saw didn’t impress us much. We didn’t get to see the big Duomo, which is the main thing we would have wanted to see in Milan—that and Leonardo DaVinci’s The Last Supper. We had two hours until our Eurostar train to Venice, so we found a bench where we could see the departures board and settled in for a long wait. Kelly and I brought back panini sandwiches while Charley watched the luggage and later brought back ice cream. Every time we got up, someone took our spot on the bench… a couple of them rather unsavory looking people. Finally our train’s platform was posted and we hauled our luggage out onto the platform. When the train pulled in, we found our car and managed to get the luggage on the train and the heavy pieces in the luggage compartment. It was all relatively easy except for my aching back and shoulders. I’ve been having problems with my left shoulder for some reason. My backpack was way too heavy today, and I definitely need to do something different for next week’s trip to Rome. The train trip to Venice was about two and a half hours. We read, had a snack, and watched the scenery. Our route took us across Italy, heading a bit further south, all the way to the Adriatic Sea. It was exciting when we finally saw the water and crossed the bridge over to Venice. The train arrived at the Santa Lucia Station; we went out the station and down some steps, coming to a big plaza overlooking the Grand Canal. It was extremely busy place with tourists coming, going and just waiting.]]> http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000830.html http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/kaydee/archives/000830.html Italy 2005 Mon, 16 May 2005 11:44:54 +0100